advanced reading copy of ADOPTING GRACE
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formed. It was holy ground and a celebration. My mother’s heart was delighted and full. Our peaked girl walked into the reception for a few moments but knew she needed to be elsewhere to give honor to her own body and situation. We all felt sad that she wasn’t among us as we ate and laughed and danced. She had made fast friends on Friday with a 6th grade boy from New York City while kicking a soccer ball and playing video games. His mom reported that he had a thing for sassy girls and was so sad to hear of her situation. Our girl’s sass had bowed down to sick on this particular day. He kept voicing hope that maybe she would come to the party for just a little while. I think he had hopes of dancing with our sassy girl. During other segments of my journey, such an inopportune time for a fender bender and a stomach bug would have thrown me off balance in a more profound way. Though there were both deep disappointments and a wish for a partially different script on these days, the weekend was full of joy and laughter and tears and gratitude. We welcomed another beautiful daughter-in-law, and one more of our children had made a home with the one he loves most deeply. On Sunday morning, our girl woke up after about 14 hours of sleep and was almost as good as new. There were fifteen awful hours that came at a most unfortunate time. As we looked out the window on this day, we witnessed another short-lived, snowy surprise. Sometimes the undesired or ADOPTING GRACE ADVANCED READING COPY 168